A boxing match in Bendigo, 1853

Educational value

• This asset shows a bare-knuckle boxing match, popular until the closing years of the 19th century, in which men fought with no covering on their fists for an unlimited number of untimed rounds - fights lasting 60-100 rounds were not uncommon.
• It shows an all-male crowd at an event on the Bendigo gold fields, 150 kilometres north-west of Melbourne - women were relatively rare on the gold fields and most remained in large towns such as Melbourne, either abandoned there by menfolk who had no intention of returning to them, or unwilling to face the privations of the gold fields.
• It demonstrates that there was a shortage of organised entertainment on the gold fields, even two years after the discovery of gold in Bendigo in 1851 - the miners worked hard and, when they had the opportunity, played hard.
• It hints, through the riotous atmosphere, that there was not a strong presence of law and order on the gold fields - police often had to patrol large areas and would not necessarily be on the spot exactly when they were required.
• It illustrates the amount of mess and pollution around the mining towns and the mines themselves - cleared bush, abandoned tools and equipment, and the soil tailings from sluicing and cradling littered the area.
• It shows the sort of clothing common among gold miners - boots, heavy moleskin trousers and broad-brimmed hats.
• It shows the sorts of tools necessary for seeking gold - buckets, barrows, pickaxes, shovels and gold pans.
• It illustrates an example of changing vocabulary - the word 'mill', meaning a fight, is no longer used in Australian English; 'mill' was 19th-century English slang for a fist fight.
• It is an example of the work of Samuel Thomas Gill, famous for his sketches and lithographs of the Victorian gold fields and other Australian subjects - he sketched from life and his works are prized for their attention to everyday detail, and the clear impressions they give of life on the gold fields.

Year level

4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12

Topics Australian history Boxing CT scans Gold Language loss Digestion Goldfields